Ferry operator CalMac was offered ships it 'didn't want'

A committee of MSPs which is looking at problems linked to the building of new ferries has heard that the service operator CalMac did not want the vessels that had been ordered.

Luke van Beek, former independent adviser to the Scottish government on shipbuilding, told the rural economy committee on Tuesday: “I had a meeting with CalMac, the previous chief executive of CalMac, who had told me in that meeting that the two ships, 801 and 802, were not the ships they wanted – in particular they did not want LNG fuel.”

MSPs are looking at why construction of the liquefied natural gas fuelled vessels are running three years late, are £100m over budget and has resulted in Scotland's last commercial Clyde shipyard into administration, prompting nationalisation.